A blog combining a love of travel, photography, and books

Book of the Month: My Experience So Far

I’m always on the hunt for new books to read, and new places to find them. My husband and I frequent our local library, and we’re always on the lookout for new books from authors we love, and books by new authors we’ve never heard of. I had heard about Book of the Month before, and decided in January to check it out! I signed up for a 12-month plan, which offers 1 book a month for a year. They have 5 new picks per month, and then you can choose which one you want based on their selection. It’s been a lot of fun so far, and it definitely makes me look forward to the first of every month!

My February Pick: The Animators by Kayla Rae Whitaker. Rating: 2/5 stars. I really wanted to love this one. I was intrigued by the story and great reviews, and very curious to see what would happen to these two dynamic, engaging, and flawed main characters. Unfortunately, it fell a little flat for me. A lot of the story felt slow moving to me, and there was very little happiness throughout. That may be a naive or cheesy complaint to make, but I wanted there to be some redeeming elements of the plot, and I felt like it just kept getting worse. At the end of the day, this was just “okay” to me. The writing is solid and powerful at times – it just wasn’t my kind of story.

My March Pick: Exit West by Mohsin Hamid. Rating: 3/5 stars. I had never read any of Mohsin Hamid’s work before, and I’m so glad I had the opportunity. While I didn’t LOVE this book, I definitely liked it. His portrayal of refugees speaks to larger issues of our time, and felt especially timely to be reading this now. My biggest struggle was his sentence style – Hamid writes in long, sweeping sentences that often take up an entire page on their own, and while this can be a beautiful element to any book, I found it to be tedious after a while. I would have loved a bit more variation in the sentence length, but Hamid’s overall attention to detail and imagery definitely makes this book worth reading.

My April Pick: One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul. I am currently reading this book, and I absolutely love it so far! Scaachi Koul’s voice is sharp and self-deprecating. She is charming and lovable, but not afraid to tell the truth about her experiences. Her honesty is refreshing, and I love getting a window into her world and her family. This continues to put a smile on my face, while making me think about my own upbringing and past experiences. I am excited to continue reading this, and so far would definitely recommend it!

My May Pick: Woman No. 17 by Edan Lepucki. I just selected by pick for May, and I am very excited for it to arrive! My husband recommended Edan Lepucki to me after he read Lepucki’s California and loved it. Woman No. 17 is a bit outside of my norm, but one of my favorite things about Book of the Month is the fact that it is getting me out of my comfort zone, and exposing me to books I may not have found on my own. I’m already looking forward to June 1st! I will write more as I continue my year of BOTM!